Council votes to raise police and fire pension cap

West Warwick Town Council approves amendment to police and fire pension plan. Voted 4-0 at November 15 meeting to raise cap.
Photo from Times Archives.

WEST WARWICK- The Town Council approved an amendment to the police and fire pension plan by a vote of 4-0 to raise the cap by $10,000.
At the Nov. 15 meeting, a discussion was held to amend section 5.08 of the West Warwick pension plan for police and fire.

This section, which was originally put in place in 2002, stated that all retired police and fire working part time had a cap of $20,000 placed on their income.

Council Member Mark Bourget explained that when police officers retire they come back to do details.

Details include being assigned to monitor and direct traffic at road construction sites.

He said that the officers are not picking up a second job where they collect pension and salary from the town but that they are actually bringing money into the town.

Retired Police officer Freddy Araujo explained to the council that the details retired police officers get, are the jobs that nobody wants and that go unfilled.

He said that retirees are “at the bottom of the pool” and they do not take anybodies job.